1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the technical field of an image processing apparatus, an image processing method, and a computer-readable recording medium on which an image processing program is stored.
2. Related Art
In order to convert an image (e.g., a fish-eye image) as captured with the use of a wide-angle lens (e.g., a fish-eye lens) into a two-dimensional plane image and display it, the image as captured has been subjected to an RGB color conversion utilizing an RGB conversion circuit, and then subjected to a distortion correction utilizing a distortion correction circuit, thereby converting it into the plane image.
A circuit having a semiconductor chip such as an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) has been used to achieve such conversion.
Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. 2008-061172 discloses an invention in which data that are captured through a wide-angle lens and include distortion are subjected to a distortion correction, and RGB data are interpolated by an RGB interpolation circuit, thereby generating output data.
However, the above-described interpolation requires interpolation of respective color data of R (Red), G (Green) and B (Blue) in response to the input data, with the result that an amount of data of the input data after the completion of conversion increases threefold relative to the data before the input. Such an amount of data may become an obstacle of a storage region of an apparatus, which performs the above-mentioned functions, and cause problems of increased costs.
In addition, the input data (including defective parts) are corrected through an RGB conversion circuit and then further corrected through a distortion correction circuit. As a result, the image quality may be degraded in comparison with a case where the input data (e.g., image data based on the Bayer pattern, an example of a specific pattern) are directly corrected (converted into a plane image).
Recently, digital cameras with more than ten million pixels have favorably been used. RGB data of an image as captured by such a camera has an extremely huge data size. Storing such data in a memory may therefore require a memory having a huge storage region, thus causing problems of further increased costs, and a complicated circuit and an enlarged circuit along with an expansion of the memory may contribute to problems of an increased general power consumption of a product.